Commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers closed a record $573.9 billion of loans in 2018, according to MBA’s 2018 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Annual Origination Volume Summation. Solid fundamentals, growing property values, low interest rates and strong appetites from both borrowers and lenders all helped drive an 8% increase in recorded multifamily lending from a year ago. Commercial bank portfolios were the leading capital source for which loans were originated in 2018, responsible for $174 billion of the total.
The government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw the second-highest volume, at $142.3 billion, and they were followed by commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) issuers, life insurance companies and pension funds, and REITS, mortgage REITS and investment funds.
CMBS issuance in the United States totaled $77.0 billion, down 12% from 2018’s total of $87.8 billion. CMBS loan origination volume in 2018 was lower than in 2017 due to fewer loan maturities, tighter credit standards and strong competition from commercial bank lenders and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac for multifamily loans.